Has this Christmas has made you realise the potential of your eCommerce business?

With cyber monday, black friday and the likes, it is clear that 2013 has very much seen a rise of online shoppers. As we know, the options are a lot more varied for shoppers these days; with more tablets, iPads, smartphones and laptops, people now have many choices as to how, where and when they choose to shop.

2014- the year of eCommerce?

Whilst 2013 has seen a definite increase in the use of online shopping, 2014 is set to be even more tech-based when it comes to sales. This will mean that the competition between the quality and how user-friendly websites are is bound to rocket. The competition is already high for eCommerce businesses due to the sheer size of the competition; you’re not just competing with other shops on the High Street anymore, but with companies located on all corners of the globe.

So what are you waiting for?

Whether you earned a successful profit from your online sales in 2013 or are reading this to learn how you could improve yours- there are always the same basic steps to keep in mind when managing your website.

SEO

The term SEO often scares a lot of people off as they assume it’s awfully technical and complicated, and far above their internet knowledge. Which it can be if you don’t know what you’re doing, but it doesn’t have to be!

Google is one of the most frequently used search tools in the world. It uses a range of techniques to assess your website, and depending on how it ranks means how far down it will show in the search menu. As long as your website is “Google-friendly” and uses a few basic SEO techniques such as regular updates, is user-friendly, responsive and uses specified keywords your website will get seen.

We offer a range of specified SEO marketing packages to help get your business to the top of the search engines. Give us a call any time to discuss what we can do help you.

Design

This is where the competition gets seriously hot. Innovative and modern web design can cost you a fortune and many would say it is worth the cost. Because there is so much choice out there, people really do have the option to pick and choose where they buy their products from. If your website doesn’t fulfil their (probably high) expectations then they can simply click the little arrow at the top of the screen and choose someone else.

To ensure they don’t, there are some things you should make sure your website does for them. If you already run an eCommerce business, then you will know the sorts things that your site needs to do. They are simple things that make a huge difference. Simply having it so the clickable links on your site highlight themselves when the mouse touches them will give your website a higher ranking.

Another main tip from us is not to have too much or too little text. Google will pick up on all of this and judge you on it; if there is too little it is probable that there is a lack of information there, whereas nobody wants to be faced with a page full of block text. Just the right amount (300-500 words) seems to do the trick.

Social Media

The ‘power of social media’ has been big news for a few years now and things haven’t changed. There are so many platforms to share on that one can no longer guarantee the same effect as the other. Each type of business will tend to do better on one form of social media than another, purely because there are so many now. For example, one type of business might really thrive on Facebook but not get so much interaction on say, Linkedin.

Winning at social media can be easy if you have the time to put into it- and it is a full time job. Which is why many companies will tend to put their social media on the back-burner, although they are aware that being active on one or more social media accounts will benefit them and work in their favour. Not only will sharing on social media increase your general reach, (potentially thousands more people will see your brand via one post) it will help your SEO by giving you more backlinks to your website and regular updates as well as forming relationships and engaging with customers with ease.

Our social media packages work with each business individually to assess the best marketing strategy for your brand.